Burnett Says Joke Sometimes Was On Her

WASHINGTON — Carol Burnett, the Broadway star and television comedian, didn't like her chin.

As she wrapped up her role as Miss Hannigan in John Huston's 1982 film version of "Annie," she decided to use the down time to have surgery and make her small chin more prominent.

"I didn't have much of a chin," Burnett recalled during an appearance recently at the Kennedy Center. "I always wanted to have a chin."

But her jaw dropped, so to speak, when she was called back a few months later to reshoot the "Easy Street" number. It called for her to come running out of a closet with Annie's locket.

"Mr. Huston," she remembered saying, "Two months ago, when I went into the closet, I didn't have a chin."

"Dear," he responded, "just come out looking determined."

That anecdote was one of several Burnett served up during "Laughter and Reflection with Carol Burnett," a casual conversation about her life and work presented by the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives.

In a question-and-answer format familiar to viewers of "The Carol Burnett Show," her 12-year television revue that ran first on CBS and then ABC, she shared stories about growing up with her grandmother in Hollywood, her relationship with her mentor, Lucille Ball, and a particularly embarrassing encounter with Cary Grant.

She also announced that Columbia House is set to release 20 of her one-hour shows on video this fall. And she granted hugs and autographs to several members of the audience, who gave her standing ovations at the beginning and end of the program.

Throughout the evening, Burnett, 67, sprinkled her stories with clips from her show, including musical numbers with Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Merman and Liza Minnelli, and performed her signature Tarzan yell.

That yell, incidentally, proved handy when Burnett was shopping in the lingerie department at Bergdorf Goodman. A prim and sweet saleslady asked Burnett to sign autographs for each of her five grandchildren. Burnett obliged, before heading to the cash register to purchase a few pairs of pantyhose.

Having left her credit card at home, Burnett wanted to pay with a check. But she didn't have identification.

The saleslady said she might be able to make an exception for Burnett, if the floor manager allowed it. The manager said she'd waive the store's rules if Burnett proved who she was by doing her Tarzan yell. Burnett "did the whole thing," whereupon a security guard abruptly kicked open a nearby door, raising his gun to shoot.

Now, she laughed, "I only do it in controlled circumstances."

But Burnett grew more serious when talking about growing up with her grandmother, who raised her and at whom she aimed her ear-tugging sign-off.

They lived a block away from Hollywood Boulevard and often saw as many as eight movies a week, exposing Burnett to stars like Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable, who later appeared on her show.

As for Ball, Burnett met her when performing in Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer's 1959 musical "Once Upon a Mattress" on Broadway. After the show one evening, Ball came backstage and offered to help Burnett with any favor she might need.

Burnett took her up on it three years later, when CBS proposed a special television program for Burnett if she could snag a big guest. Hesitantly, she called Ball, who said, "When do you want me?"

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of Lucy," Burnett said, adding praise for her co-stars Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, as well as celebrities like Ray Charles, Perry Como and the Carpenters.

It was Burnett's meeting with another star, Grant, that may have been her most embarrassing moment. At a party in the late 1960s hosted by Peggy Lee, Burnett and her husband were chatting with other guests when the room fell silent. Grant had walked in.

Several weeks before, Grant told Korman he liked their show. But Burnett was too nervous to meet him, so she and her husband made a dash for the door.

Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Lee, saying Grant wanted to talk to her. His mouth started moving, uttering "charming" words, while her ears pounded with nervousness. Finally, he stopped talking. It was her turn to speak.

"You're a credit to your profession," she blurted, to her later dismay.

Despite her career experiences among Hollywood's elite, Burnett said her proudest accomplishment has been raising her three daughters, Carrie, Jody and Erin.

She recalled going out for a family dinner when Erin was 4 and insisted on having dessert without dinner. Burnett told her she couldn't have one without the other.

As Burnett ate her entree, Erin kept glancing over at her, looks Burnett took to mean her daughter wanted to make up but was too proud. Then, Erin turned to Burnett's husband.